That Boy is Mine
by Singer1108
Summary: Rukia keeps vital information from Orihime regarding her relationship with Ichigo. How will Orihime react when she learns the truth?


"Hey, Rukia…can I ask you something?"

"What is it, Orihime?" I asked her, not looking up from my book.

"It's about Ichigo," she said, fully catching my attention.

"What about him?"

"It's just that…well, how do I say this…Rukia, in all honesty, do you or do you not have feelings for Ichigo?"

I stared at her for a moment, not entirely sure I heard her correctly. Feelings for Ichigo? I knew she liked him, hell EVERYONE knew, but I couldn't tell her the truth about my own feelings. I really wanted to avoid an argument.

"Why do you ask?" I said.

"I'm not sure…you two just seem to be very close, almost inseparable." She said shyly.

"You've got nothing to worry about, Orihime. Ichigo and I are just friends, okay? We don't feel that way about each other." I lied.

Ichigo and I had had a talk about this before. In fact, he and I were secretly seeing each other. We knew it would cause chaos if anyone found out right now, so we chose to keep things quiet until the time was right.

"Oh, well, that's good." She said, releasing a sigh of relief.

"I sense that isn't all you want to talk to me about." I said to her.

"Well, no, not entirely." She said. "It's just…I've had feelings for him for a while now, and I want to tell him. I just don't know how."

I cringed at the thought of Orihime confessing her love to Ichigo.

"Uh, well, I don't know, Orihime. I'm pretty sure he likes someone else." I said as politely as I could.

"Huh? How do you know?" she shrieked.

"You said it yourself, we're inseparable. Believe it or not, we talk about those things." I explained.

"So do you know who it is?" she asked.

I gulped. "Well, he never actually mentioned a name."

"What does she look like?"

"You know, I really can't remember. Let's just forget I said anything." I said nervously.

Orihime stared at me, a blank expression on her face. I couldn't tell if she was confused or trying to think.

"Orihime?" I said.

"There's something you aren't telling me, isn't there Rukia?"

Damn it, she caught me. "W-what do you mean?" I stammered.

"You're hiding something for me!"

"N-no I'm not!"

"Rukia Kuchiki, I can not believe you! Why won't you tell me what you know?"

"Because…" I stopped. Could I really trust Orihime with such a secret?

"Because?" she asked, her face a few inches away from mine.

"Because if I tell you, you'll only end up getting hurt." I said quietly.

"W-what?" she said, moving away from me.

"If I tell you something, you have to promise not to say anything to anyone. Not even Tatsuki. Understand?"

"Mhm." Orihime said, nodding her head.

I took a deep breath. "The truth is…Ichi-"

"Hey, Rukia!"

I stopped and turned to see Ichigo walking towards me.

"Oh…hey, Ichigo!" I called back.

"I-Ichigo!" Orihime whimpered.

"You ready to head home?" he asked me.

"Y-yeah. Just a minute though. I need to finish telling Orihime something." I grabbed Ichigo's hand and laced my fingers between his.

"Rukia, what are you doing? She can see us!" he said to me.

"I know," I said, turning away from him to face Orihime, but not letting go of his hand.

"So…so then you two…" Orihime said.

"I'm sorry, Orihime." I said honestly. "This is why we didn't want to tell you. We didn't want to upset you."

"Rukia…" Ichigo said.

"I know you weren't ready to tell yet, Ichigo, and I'm sorry." I said.

"W-wait. Don't apologize to him, Rukia. This is all my fault." Orihime said.

I looked at her in disbelief. "Orihime…"

"Ichigo, I made Rukia tell me about this. If she hadn't, I would have made a complete idiot out of myself, and probably would have embarrassed you too."

"Don't worry about it, I'm not upset. What about you? Are you going to be alright with this?"

Orihime smiled at us. "All I want is for you to be happy, Ichigo. And you too, Rukia. Secretly, I was rooting for the both of you, so don't you worry about me. I'll be just fine."

I let go of Ichigo's hand and wrapped my arms around Orihime, who had started to cry.

"Thank you, Orihime. And I promise you you'll find the right person. I'll be cheering for you, okay?"

"Thank you, Rukia." She cried.

I let go of her as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

"I should get home, it's getting late." She said to us.

"Just a second, Orihime." Ichigo said. "You have to promise you won't tell anyone just yet. Not until we say it's alright."

"I…" she paused and looked at the two of us together and slightly smiled. "I promise."

"Alright. Do you want us to walk you home?' he asked.

"No, that's okay. I'll be fine. I'll see you both tomorrow." She said, walking away from us.

"Ichigo…I'm so sorry." I said to him.

"Don't be. I figured she'd be the first one to find out, anyway. That actually went better than I had expected." He joked, grabbing my hand.

"That's not funny, Ichigo! Orihime's really upset!" I said.

He laughed and kissed me gently on the cheek. "She'll be okay, I promise. Let's get home before my dad starts getting crazy ideas about us again."

I smiled at him. "Alright, let's go."


End file.
